


The day they became the three musketeers

by cmorgana



Series: A Collection of Random Plots [1]
Category: The Musketeers (2014)
Genre: Gen, Headcanon, Not a fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-26
Updated: 2015-02-26
Packaged: 2018-03-15 10:09:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3443312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cmorgana/pseuds/cmorgana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The title says it all.<br/>That's not a fic, that's a headcanon I was posting on tumblr but then it became a little too long and I decided to post it here instead. As such it's not written as a fic so don't expect too much!</p>
            </blockquote>





	The day they became the three musketeers

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still not english, so there's probably tons of mistakes (I also wrote this at 3 in the morning from my phone and that doesn't help ;) ).  
> That's just one of my headcanons, I'm starting to have a few too much.

Athos is a musketeer for just a few days. It wasn't that hard to become one, he has a title after all and he's a great swordsman, so he got invested a Musketeer almost straight away. He isn't even trying so hard, he fights and trains at day and he drinks to forget his past at night. Easy enough.

Aramis is a mess too. He's solitary, still getting himself up since Savoy. He lost everything that day, even himself. His brothers in arms. His best friend. He didn't got attached to anyone after that but two years later he sleeps around a lot, a different lover every night. To most of them he doesn't even ask for a name. Bodies to make him feel alive, to make him feel as if he could be loved again, to make him feel needed, but just bodies, no one he really cares for, no one he risks to lose. He respects each and everyone of his lovers, he give himself to them but he doesn't let himself take more than physical love, doesn't let himself get close to someone who could leave him alone in a forest with the corpses of all his dead friends (his stare is so worryingly similar to the pained and empty one in S2…)

And then there's Porthos. He joined not long after Savoy but he never got too close to anyone. Big, scary Porthos, no one would get too close to him either, and that is sort of okay since no one seem to really like him, not with that skin color, not knowing where he came from. Strong Porthos who tells with pride that he made an honest man out of himself with only his will and strength. And yet... But it's ok to him, he's a musketeer, that's what he's always hoped for and even if they're not so friendly the others still are his brothers in arms, still ought to protect him. Even if he feels alone and misses his "family", even if he hoped to find something else, something more, joining the Musketeers. 

So that's them, even more messed up than at the present day and they're sent on a mission outside Paris. 

The worst trio ever. 

Athos hates Aramis' flirty ways, Aramis finds Porthos ways unnerving, not to mention how Porthos wants to rip Athos head off just to see if it keep brooding! 

And yet they're stuck together for days to no end in the middle of nothing, and they don't even try to chat, maybe Aramis and Porthos do, but just a little, just because they know no one can make it out alive on his own, but that's all, except there's an ambush and Porthos gets hurt. 

Nothing horrible but it seems bad enough that Aramis internally freaks out because he can't lose another brother in a damn wood. And he tries to keep calm, to assess the damage, but he just can't seem to function, his hands are shaky and he's sweating.. but Athos isn't an idiot and if there's one thing he's intimate with is emotional pain and trauma, so he takes control of the situation, helping Aramis to clean and stitch the wound without a word, because Aramis pain isn't his business. He gives him the wine he stashed among his things and when he realizes Aramis is still trembling and pale as a ghost he sits beside him and just starts to talk.

Aramis is even more shocked by that than from past traumas. Athos, the new one who uttered maybe ten words in days, is now chatting him up just to keep his mind from wandering in dark places. No one has ever done that for him. They had outed him and his shames, they had kept him distracted with sex or asked for a confession of his inner demons, but no one ever had just sat near him, with a passed out Porthos half on their laps, talking about the worst taverns in town and horses and all that little things that keep Aramis from losing himself in his own mind.

Athos offers just that. He doesn't care to know what made his "brother" so pale, it wouldn't be honest to do so knowing he's probably never going to lay his soul and sins bare to the man, he just wants to see the color reach his face once more and he knows that sometimes it's the small, stupid, things that make someone smile and relax. Or wine but they don't have enough of that, not with Porthos about to wake up in a lot of pain.

And then the dark come and Porthos is still passed out, Aramis' nerves have calmed down and he doesn't even realized he's feeling drowsy or when he falls asleep on Athos shoulder. 

Athos would like to run away, to keep guard all night under the weight of two passed out men not his idea of fun, but then he looks at their faces and it's the first time since he met them that there's no anxiety on their features, nor dark circles under their eyes. Aramis is even clinging to Athos' jacket, as if to keep him there, so used to be left alone that his body can't relax from that, not even in sleep, the other hand on Porthos unhurt shoulder and Athos can't shrug them off, on the cold earth. He can't because he knows how rare and precious is to fall asleep and feel safe, to be exhausted and not fight against sleep because of the nightmares you know are waiting for you in the shadows. 

In the morning Porthos is the first one to wake up, with a grunt of pain, and he's suddenly aware of his surroundings. He looks at Aramis, still asleep, smiling in his sleep, and then at Athos, tired and pale but still awake, gun still in his hand, and he remembers, he realizes. Those two musketeers saved him, fought for him when he was down and then patched him up. Athos, someone he didn't even speak to before, spent all night watching over him and Aramis. He didn't have to, he could have woken them up for their turns of guard, he could have put him on a horse to Paris, hurt shoulder and all. But no, he sat there and protected them. It's the first time Porthos realizes he's stronger with his fellows Musketeers than alone. It's the first time he doesn't slap away the hand that's helping him up. He doesn't need to appear invincible, he let himself be vulnerable and yet he wasn't abandoned, so now he can show he's in pain and can accept the much needed help. 

The movement wakes Aramis too and the moment he realizes he's sleeping against Athos' chest he's ashamed, shy, confused. He doesn't even sleep with lovers! Sleep is too intimate of an act, sleeping you're in the open, you can't control what passes on your face. But he knows it doesn't matter, not after what happened the day before when he let the new musketeer see how scared and shocked he was. He's sure he'll never have Athos' respect after that, he shouldn't even care, and yet he's sorry he'll be diminished in the eyes of someone who took such care of him and Porthos. 

Except obviously Athos doesn't think less of him just because he's scarred, he doesn't even know what happened to him or when, but the day before it was pretty obvious the other musketeer was haunted by the past and still he stitched Porthos wound and helped him out, he put the other man before his feelings and that's enough for Athos to appreciate it. 

Incredible enough he succeeds to explain that to Aramis without making things embarrassing or…well, without too much words. 

That's the moment even Athos realizes they're stronger together: when Aramis strip himself and goes fishing to have something for breakfast, with them all well knowing is just a pretext to give Athos a little rest, to give him the time to take a little nap before they'll start riding again. 

And strange enough Athos is ok with that, he's okay with letting someone else taking care of him for the first time in months, he doesn't feel weakened by it, not since he was the one taking care of them the night before. It's just a mutual help, it's just being brothers, something he never even fully had with Thomas. He'd always been the older brother, the man of the house, the one with all the responsibilities, but not anymore, now he's an equal to the others musketeers, he doesn't have to care for them more than they have to care for him and when he admits it it's like breathing again after a long time of suffocating. He can't even help it, when Porthos lays a hand on his shoulder to have him lean back to take some rest, he goes with it. 

Porthos is so uplifted by this development he can't help but smile when Athos rests his head on his thigh, it's the first time someone in the musketeers trusts him so deeply, he's wounded, even if it's just a scratch, another scar to remember that day, and yet Athos has enough faith in him to close his eyes and let him take guard, knowing that Porthos won't let anything bad happen to him, trusting that big, dark, man to protect him in his sleep. No, Porthos couldn't be happier and prouder and he swears from that day on he'll protect those two man with his life, no matter what. 

When Aramis comes back he finds them like that, Athos fast asleep, Porthos watching over him, and that's it. That's when and how he remembers how it feels to be a musketeers, how it feels to know that no matter how messed up things are you'll always have a family. Something with a stronger bond than even blood. That's when he leaves Marsac memories behind, when he admits to himself that he was the exception, not the rule, that after all he still believes in friendship and honor and that those two men in front of him won't let him down, won't let him alone with Death, not without Death having claimed them first. 

That's the day that changes their life, the day that from a minor incident, from a small wound, from a sleepless night, they realize that they can't let go of their pasts but can trust their futures, that if someone is up to protect a stranger fellow musketeers then is worth of having their friendship. 

That's how it all starts.


End file.
